Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 2,906 Shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in shares of Nucor Co. (NYSE:NUE) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,906 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.10% of Nucor worth $26,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,427,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,724,117,000 after buying an additional 326,181 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,861,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $883,732,000 after buying an additional 74,569 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,456,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $519,648,000 after buying an additional 571,682 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,758,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,282,000 after buying an additional 358,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nucor by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,680,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,127,000 after buying an additional 68,252 shares in the last quarter. 76.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NUE. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Nucor from $240.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised Nucor from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Nucor from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Nucor from $150.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price target (down from $171.00) on shares of Nucor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nucor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $164.33.

Nucor Stock Performance

NYSE:NUE opened at $132.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Nucor Co. has a 1 year low of $112.25 and a 1 year high of $203.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $129.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.48. The company has a market cap of $30.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.28. Nucor had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 6.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nucor Co. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nucor Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Nucor’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.16%.

Nucor Company Profile

Nucor Corporation engages in manufacture and sale of steel and steel products. It operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. The Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling structural steel products; bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and engineered special bar quality products; and engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses.